even if there is a compromise, they are going to end up feeling the pain. >> jobs, no cuts. >> reporter: more than 100 protesters. they crowded the hallway of the speaker's office. >> just open your eyes and soften his hearts. >> reporter: hoping to put a human face on the people they say would be hit hardest by the so-called sequester across-the- board government cuts. >> i have three children. >> reporter: april thomas was homeless up until two years ago when they finally put her young family in an apartment in southeast. >> and now i am being told that my housing might be cut and a possibility that i might end up back where i came from. >> reporter: the cuts would cost the city hundreds of jobs and hit education and head start particularly hard. >> what did you want them to

do? >> i want them to do what they have to do to be a doctor and there they go too. >> reporter: the speaker's staff locked the door. but they say that the speaker has proposed a responsible and balanced framework to avert the fiscal cliff with tax reform and reasonable spending cuts. >> there are no barriers here. and to set them down and begin to work through the process. >> reporter: the protesters left behind photos of the people they say that will be hurt. >> but do you worry about your country, the country you fought for? do you worry about the debt that the country has? >> yes. >> and now at that point they dragged the vet away and we could not get more details on how he felt about the debt. but the speaker staff did pick up all those photos, all those letters, and they promised that they would review them. anita back to you. >> thank you. and another -- and also another federal deadline when they need to decide whether or not they will be setting up the

health insurance exchanges. the next step in the health care reform law. those exchanges will allow people in small businesses to access an online marketplace to find more affordable health care. and d.c., maryland, 14 other states have already establish these health exchanges. virginia officials say that they will not be creating one. 13 states have yet to decide. but the state department, they confirmed today that the secretary of state hillary clinton will testify before congress about the terror attack on the u.s. consulate. as they report other members of the president's national security team started showing up on capitol hill today. members of the president's national security team, they headed behind closed doors. to answer the lawmakers questions about the deadly attack on the u.s. consulate in libya. and congress, they are trying to piece together what happened before, during, and after the attack that killed the ambassador and three other americans. >> we must have accountability.

>> reporter: at the one open hearing, the democrats warned about politicizing the investigation. >> if you want an honest investigation of this tragedy, we will join you. >> reporter: the republican senators john mccain and lindsay graham are calling for a gate-style inquiry into the attacks, combining the resources of both the senate and the house. the gop senators are outraged over the interviews that the u.n. ambassador gave five days after the attack. saying that it did not appear to be pre-planned. >> if senator mccain and graham and others want to go after somebody, then they should go after me. >> reporter: senator mccain did just that. >> we believe whoever it is must be held responsible, i say to the president of the united states. most importantly the president of the united states who is commander in chief. >> reporter: the former cia director david petraeus will testify on friday. secretary of state hillary clinton will talk to lawmakers once the state department

completes its own investigation. and in washington, danielle noddingham, 9news now. >> president obama says he is considering ambassador rice to serve as the next secretary of state when hillary clinton steps down. but some republican senators say they would block that nomination because of her comments on the attacks. well after a rivetting day of testimony, lesli, right now the testimony is delivering in the bowie state university murder case. as andrea mccaren tells us, the 20-year-old alexis simpson admitted to stabbing her roommate in the neck after an argument. >> reporter: with music playing on an ipod became a case of murder. prosecutors say that the 20- year-old alexis simpson plunged a knife into dominique's neck that it completely cut her trachea. you know knives can kill,

right? >> simpson,: question. >> prosecutor: you know if you plunge a knife into someone's neck, it can kill, right? >> simpson: yes. >> reporter: simpson says it was an act of self-defense, only pulling out a knife because she was ganged up by frasier and her friends. she was scared. according to testimony, days before the murder, simpson had requested a change of dorm room because of roommate issues. she was told there were no rooms available. and that was our own reporting. now on to d.c. where the staff members including the principal are accused of assault. the victim a former staffer. >> reporter: i'm matt jablo in northwest washington where students at coolidge high school had a normal day today, except for the fact that their principal spent much of the day

a few miles away at police headquarters downtown, where she turned herself in this morning after being charged with assaulting a former staff member back on november 2. according to the police report, the victim, the 37-year-old king hicks, the former afterschool coordinator here at coolidge high school was talking to some friends in the parking lot after a football game when she heard somebody shout get her. and at at point according to the police report, the victim was punched in the face by a person now identified as the school's principal and then kicked in the side when she fell to the ground. the victim was not seriously injured. although she declined to be interviewed on camera, she told me on the phone that she had no idea what prompted the attack. matt jablo, 9news now. and the first public hearing was held to discuss the possible closing of the d.c. schools today. but earlier this week, some residence received an automated message from the city school chancellor regarding the plans. but what really caught some

people's attention is that henderson's robotic sounding voice in the message. >> good afternoon d.c. parents, this is chancellor henderson and i'm calling with a very important message. >> according to the website, henderson's voice sounds a bit distorted because it is really not her at all. it was actually a text to speech program that turns words and a computer into audio that someone accidentally selected when the message was recorded. you can see the entire list of proposed school closing at wusa9.com. who has been called the next steven hawkings and the einstein of the 21st century by others. a conversation with the author named howard bloom about "the god problem." we may just learn something. we'll see you then. >> we always do. thanks, dave. still to come in this half hour of 9news. three local students vie for big money and wig opportunity for the national -- big opportunity for the national day. >> reporter: good news, it is not windy out here, but kind of

chilly. high temperature only 51. it stayed at 49 at dulles. 38 was the low this morning at national. averages are still 59 and 41. look at the record high, 83, record low 20. we'll talk about when the clouds will go away and we'll also talk about whether or not the rain has gone away for the weekend. but first who the fda said is responsible for that wild spread salmonella outbreak that lead to the recall of hundreds of peanut products.

the company at the center of the widespread salmonella problem knew about their problems, but kept taking it out anyway. they called hundreds of products this fall. and one of their peanut butters sold at peanut joe -- trader joes found that they mishandled the products that the facility was clean and they even left trailers of peanut exes -- peanuts exposed to birds and rain. they are bankrupt and workers went on strike this month rather than accepting an 8% pay cut along with other concessions. they will ask a court tomorrow to liquidate if it does not reach a labor agreement this evening. >> the news is not getting better for the u.s. postal

service. they reported a loss of $15.9 billion last year. that's almost $11 billion more than the year before. unless congress takes action, they stand to lose billions in additional dollars in the coming fiscal year. an update on the controversial ads that will be going up at metro stations as we have been telling you about the battle. all for the last few months. now they are posting a disclaimer along with the adds, so no one questions where the agencies will stand. it reads, "this is a paid advertisement sponsored by the american freedom dispense initiative." the advertising space is a designated public forum. it is also a heads up for you if you are planning to use metro this weekend. they will be tracking parts of the red, orange, blue, and yellow lines. be sure to leave yourself a

little extra time. still ahead, the nation's rivers are in trouble. find out just how much coming up next.

a grown alert tonight.

they released their rivers today downgrading it from a d plus to a d and they said that while we're learning more about the impact of the potomac. more money needs to be devoted to the clean water programs and we need to change the way that land will be developed in the water shed. the largest oil spill is leading to the largest criminal find in u.s. history. today, they agreed to pay $4.5 billion in connection to the april 2010 explosion that killed 11 workers, releasing an estimated 200 million gallons of oil into the gulf of mexico. >> and it will be about $2.4 billion of the criminal recovery funds that will be dedicated to the environmental restoration, preservation, and the conservation efforts throughout the region. >> they also plead guilty to 11 felony counts and two top supervisors at the company that they will be facing23 criminal counts themselves, including 11 counts of the involuntary manslaughter. connecticut's governor estimates the damage from super

storm sandy, they will cost that state at least $360 million. and today, he visited some of the hardest hit areas in staten island. saying that they will stick with the recovery efforts until the rebuilding is complete. and to survey the damage being seen. they will make their predictions about our forecast from this very weather center. and tonight some local students might be developing the cuttin edge technology when it comes to the natural disaster relief. they show us how they are competing for the competition in math, science, technology. >> and that will be a big wild view. >> they have problem solving down to a science. the high schoolers are creekal winners of the foundation science award, a prestigious honor. >> it is like a fingerprint. >> reporter: they developed the computer software that recognizes where a picture was taken.

>> the big dips is what matters. >> reporter: a process called geo location and it could be used in everything from the counterterrorism to the disaster relief. >> you don't need the whole rising. you could have bits and pieces. when i took this picture, i was not intended for that to happen. but i noticed little things just between them. and this bill too. and you know very accurately. >> you can do the participation. >> reporter: they were interns at the national institute of health when they developed a potential vaccine for the disease. it causes serious damage to the people's skin and many parts of the world. >> we tested it on mice and they didn't have the lesions caused by it. >> but they were still alive. so the body, they could build the immunity. >> reporter: they were inspired when they learned about traveling to india. they joined the research project because they hit close to home for her too. >> when i found out they were doing research on the diseases, lead by the parasites, my mom,

she had lyme disease so it was kind of a motivating factor. >> reporter: they had their eyes on the future of their amazing accomplishments. they hope their vaccine goes to human trial and sam wants to expand the horizons of his software program. >> i'm looking at the extension of my program using the shorelines as opposed to the horizon. so i'm going to start working with that. >> reporter: 9news. >> and the next step for these kids is the national competition. that's from december 1 through the 4th at gw. and the top winner gets $100,000 in scholarship money. there is a lot on the line. gosh, we wish them luck. amazing kids. >> yes, absolutely. who would think about that? only down to 30 meters too. i talked to erica about this. what a great report. they can now locate it by horizon. >> wow. >> that's pretty cool stuff. high school, you know, well, it was doing that stuff in high school. >> yeah, me neither. >> i mean, i did build a

weather station when i was 8. >> yeah, good for you, top. >> yeah, thank you. put it right in the middle before it hits. >> thank you, i appreciate it. and let's talk about seattle. it rains more there than it does here. but it doesn't. they just have more drizzle. check it out. there's the needle. mt. rainier and fog, it is clouds on the ground, okay. it's made up the water droplets. >> that's a great shot. >> yeah, just a great shot. and a good thing for them to be up in the space needle, huh? for us we'll go outside. a little less dramatic here. clouds, fog. and the live shot of the kennedy center on the michael and son weather cam. 48 right now. winds are north northeast at 8 and the dew points are in the 30s. so everybody is going to hold in the 30s for the lows tonight and the pressure is still steady. satellite picture radar combined. we will zoom in on the little storm. a pesky little thing. bringing us the clouds all day. we'll continue to bring you clouds all night and tonight and tomorrow and it will pull

away from shore tomorrow. and we will end up with a very, very nice friday. so in the morning you will probably have the cloud cover. just about everywhere as you go to work. when you're coming home, you'll have the clear skies and sunshine if you're out during the lunch hour. temperatures mainly in the 40s with a couple 30s creeping in. 39 in gaithersburg. mid-40s in great falls and vienna. and 49 at berkeley, the warmer readings. 34 in ashburn down towards manassas. so the clouds are going to hang tough as they are. and cold tonight. needed jacket tonight. a strong finish for the week. and a nice weekend with pretty much taking the rain out of the forecast on sunday. we may even take it out on sunday night and monday as they will be staying east of us. the next three days. they will be green, green, green. cool, but nice on friday. becoming mostly sunny. mostly sunny on saturday, 54. afternoon clouds, they are still a possibility on sunday.

but highs because of the sunshine and the storm tracks farther east. back in the low 50s. the next seven days look like this. monday, we'll keep a chance of the early shower and then partly cloudy, mid-50s. a quiet travel weather day on wednesday. mid-50s. and in fact the lower 48 will be pretty quiet. and turkey day, sunshine with temperatures back in the upper50s -- the upper 50s to the near 60s. >> yes. we don't want it to be quiet though when the redskins play. we want them cheering, which could mean they could win the game, right? >> yeah, we want those people here. loud and proud. it's a big game. they are hoping to get well against the eagle's team. and burgundy and gold, it will be their favorites this week, right? it appears so. but what about on the field? you'll see. and how bad are the wizards? we are already comparing them to historically bad teams. we'll tell you next.

both teams are looking at

it here, but they feel that way because they started looking at them, and mike vick. is don't get too excited though. they have scorched the skins before and they are not taking this rookie lightly either. >> he is 6-6, 250 pounds. definitely not the same quarterback. but i think that's the big key, you know, regardless of what you're doing. and whatever it is. just really focus in on your responsibility. and they also need to make that too. >> bad news. they said that the offensive tackle went to the doctor. they did practice earlier this week, but they experienced pain. it will be with that bad hip. and we have wizards news. they required them to help hold

the fort while dealing with their knees. including in washington, they released them to make room. and now unless they transform into will chamberlain, he will not help them unless they are playing like crop after last night's loss in dallas. they summed it up and said that it is a learning process. and you might be wondering where they will stand on the list. and one franchise record for the bad starts, which they will need to set last season. '08 -- 8 -- for the0-8 team. that's the worse start, holding the worse record for them i should say. they both lost 18 in a row. and now 7,500 have voted. go in and click it for the playoff time. that's a good one. that's it for us.

cbs evening news is coming up next. good night everyone.